Trump urged to step up antitrust crackdown and resist pressures to go soft on Google, Ticketmaster | Latest Tech News
Dozens of business teams requested President Trump to double down on an antitrust crackdown he pitched during his 2024 marketing campaign – and to “resist pressures” to go soft on Google, Ticketmaster and other alleged monopolists.
The teams praised Trump for appointing hawkish antitrust leaders — such as Justice Department antitrust chief Gail Slater, FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson and FTC commissioner Mark Meador — and requested Trump in a Monday letter to “press forward with the full slate of pending cases currently being advanced by the FTC and DOJ” relatively than search settlements.
“We urge you to build on the foundation already established and to resist pressures that would return federal antitrust enforcement to a more hands-off approach, the very approach that allowed unchecked market power to take root,” the teams said in the letter completely obtained by The Post.
President Trump touted a sturdy antitrust effort during his 2024 presidential marketing campaign. AP
The White House didn’t immediately return a request for remark.
For weeks, sources close to the scenario have described simmering tensions between two camps within Trumpworld – those who need to press forward with major circumstances against the likes of Google and Ticketmaster, and others burrowed into the administration pushing an method that’s more pleasant to big business.
Those tensions got here to a head in July, when the Justice Department settled its bid to block Hewlett Packard’s $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks despite Slater’s strong objections. Rumors swirled that MAGA-aligned lobbyists had leaned on their White House connections to kill the case.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai attended a current dinner at the White House with other tech CEOs. AP
Shortly after the settlement, two of Slater’s top aides – Roger Alford and William Rinner – had been abruptly fired in a transfer that alarmed many within the business and legal group. Alford subsequently went scorched earth in an August speech, blasting “MAGA-in-name-only lobbyists and DOJ officials enabling them” who he claimed had been undermining Trump’s antitrust agenda.
“There is definitely a cleavage in the Republican coalition between folks who want to want to see a return to a more Bush or Obama era of antitrust and folks who are really concerned with the questions of structural power,” a source close to the scenario just lately told The Post.
Trump’s dinner last month with Big Tech CEOs – during which Google boss Sundar Pichai thanked Trump for a “resolution” just days after the company dodged an antitrust breakup – raised pink flags for anti-monopoly watchdogs as properly as “Little Tech” advocates who need to see smaller corporations get a degree taking part in subject. Apple CEO Tim Cook was also in attendance.
DOJ antitrust chief Gail Slater is widely seen as a hawk on competitors points. Bloomberg via Getty Images
The letter’s signers embody teams across tech, agriculture and small business, including the influential startup accelerator Y Combinator; News Media Alliance, a commerce group that represents news retailers including The Post; Beeper, a messaging startup that had a high-profile spat with Apple.
Other signatories embody the American Booksellers Association; the Tech Oversight Project; the National Grocers Association and dozens of small companies and regional commerce teams.
Notable conservatives also joined the coalition, including Rachel Bovard of the Conservative Partnership Institute and the Bull Moose Project.
FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson just lately took motion against Ticketmaster and Live Nation. Getty Images
“We encourage you to stand with those committed to implementing the bold vision you’ve articulated when you announced your Administration’s antitrust enforcers,” the letter added.
Attorney General Pam Bondi is anticipated to be peppered with questions about her handling of the antitrust division on Tuesday, when she testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee for its annual Justice Department oversight listening to.
The DOJ and FTC each have pending actions against Ticketmaster. AP
Several major antitrust battles are still on the docket. Slater’s DOJ antitrust division has pending lawsuits against Google, Apple, Ticketmaster, Visa and others.
The Ferguson-led FTC is suing Amazon for its alleged monopoly over the online retail sector. Other pending circumstances embody a swimsuit filed last month against Ticketmaster looking for billions in penalties (though not antitrust prices) and an motion against Southern Glazer, the nation’s largest alcohol distributor, for unlawful pricing.
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